


Shut Up and Dance

by cosmic_llin



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Dancing, F/F, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 07:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8362945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: B'Elanna and Seven accidentally dare each other to dance.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [venndaai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/venndaai/gifts).



B’Elanna wasn’t exactly fond of the dress uniform. It was less comfortable than the regular one and more difficult to move in. She had to admit that she liked the way it looked – she’d spent a few moments in front of the mirror, feeling marginally more filled with Starfleet Officer Confidence than she usually did – but that was about all it had going for it. But she was stuck in it for at least the next several hours.

‘Try to at least _look_ like you wouldn’t rather be anywhere else?’ the captain hissed in her ear, as the Altwena ambassador approached, smiling broadly.

‘Yes, captain,’ B’Elanna said, dredging up a sickly-sweet smile.

‘Attagirl.’

The three of them – B’Elanna, the captain and Seven of Nine – had been invited to this formal dinner and dance, where the captain was hoping to negotiate a good trade deal with the Altwena, who were a matriarchal society. Seven was pouting even harder than B’Elanna, but _she_ didn’t get told to play nice. But then, it wasn’t as if she’d have paid any attention anyway, so perhaps the captain was just saving her energy.

‘Welcome, welcome!’ said Ambassador Garreg, clasping each of them by the hands in turn in what B’Elanna had learned – fifteen minutes ago while belatedly reading the mission briefing – was a traditional Altwena greeting. ‘Please, come this way. We’re so pleased to have you all with us!’

The captain chattered happily with the ambassador while B’Elanna and Seven trailed behind, and eventually they were all seated near each other on a long, narrow table that wound and spiralled around itself so that it filled almost the whole room. The captain sat opposite the ambassador, and someone had thoughtfully surrounded B’Elanna with fellow engineers, all of whom introduced themselves and then carried on with their conversation about faster-than-light propulsion. B’Elanna relaxed a little. Seven, a few seats down, was listening with an expression of concealed bewilderment to the talk around her, which seemed to be about some complicated Altwena sport. B’Elanna felt a twinge of sympathy for her.

The food was weird but palatable, and the dinner went quickly enough.

‘You’ll join us for the dancing, won’t you?’ one of the engineers asked, once the meal was over.

‘Maybe later,’ B’Elanna smiled.

She hadn’t had time to read the section in the mission briefing about Altwena dancing, and she didn’t want to make a fool of herself. She took a drink from a passing server and retreated to a corner to watch.

‘What is the purpose of dancing?’ a voice asked beside her.

Seven had followed her into the corner, and she was looking dubiously at the whirling mass of people. Altwena dancing seemed to be partnered, and gender seemed to be immaterial. The dancers joined hands and turned in circles around each other in time to the music, sometimes adding in jumps, stomps and claps.

‘I… you know, I’m not exactly sure,’ B’Elanna said. ‘It’s the kind of thing Chakotay would know. Social rituals and whatever. And you know, movement is enjoyable. It’s fun.’

‘Movement is enjoyable?’

‘Sure. Different people like different types. I prefer outdoorsy stuff – climbing, running. Dancing isn’t exactly my kind of thing.’

‘In the Borg, all movement has a goal. It isn’t recreational.’

‘But you’re not part of the Collective any more, are you?’

‘No.’

‘So you should try it sometime. You don’t know if you’ll enjoy it if you don’t even try.’

Seven gave her a piercing look. ‘You are not dancing.’

‘I already know I don’t like it.’

‘But you cannot possibly have already made a thorough study of the Altwena style of dancing. We only arrived in this system three days ago.’

B’Elanna frowned. ‘I could have by now, if I’d wanted to. I just had better things to do.’ She peered at the dancers. ‘It doesn’t even look that hard.’

Seven turned to watch them as well. ‘I agree. The movements are relatively simple. I too believe I could master it without any great difficulty.’

‘So prove it,’ said B’Elanna. ‘Go out there and dance.’

 ‘I require a partner.’ Seven looked B’Elanna up and down. ‘You would suffice, lieutenant.’

‘Suffice? _Suffice?!_ Come on, we’ll find out who _suffices_.’

She grabbed Seven’s hand and pulled her onto the dancefloor.

It was more difficult that it looked from the outside, and it had been years since B’Elanna had really danced, especially this sort, where you had to actually keep in time to the music and not just jump around in the sweaty darkness until you were exhausted. And the damn dress uniform made her feel a little stiff and awkward. But they copied what the others did, and Seven’s impeccable timing kept them on track.

Their raised hands joined together, they spun slowly around each other, and when Seven began to add stomps every fourth beat, B’Elanna got the idea quickly and joined in, and added in her own claps every seventh beat, like some of the other dancing pairs were doing.

The music did something.

‘A key change,’ Seven observed, and B’Elanna took her word for it.

Some of the other couples switched from linked hands to linked elbows, which brought them closer together, made the dance more complex – and more intimate.

‘We could do that,’ said B’Elanna. ‘I think we’ve got the hang of the basics. I don’t want to look like we don’t know what we’re doing.’

‘Agreed,’ said Seven, and she pulled B’Elanna closer, so that their elbows hooked around each other.

B’Elanna’s heart was pounding. Probably because of the exertion.

‘I don’t think we’ve ever been this close before without one of us yelling at the other,’ she said.

‘That is an accurate observation,’ said Seven.

The other dancers moved their linked arms closer to their bodies. B’Elanna and Seven copied them, until they were nose to nose, still circling each other.

‘Your pupils are dilated,’ Seven observed.

‘So what if they are?’

B’Elanna didn’t know if she wanted this to be over right now, or if she wanted it never to end. But it did end, a few moments later. The music came to a gliding stop, and suddenly the room was quiet. She and Seven stood there, still linked together, both breathing hard.

‘It seems you were correct,’ said Seven. ‘Physical activity can be… stimulating.’

The music started up again, and the couples around them began to move.

Seven looked at B’Elanna, her expression serious. ‘Perhaps we should continue?’

‘I’m game if you are,’ said B’Elanna.

The dance began again.


End file.
